MOLINE, Ill. — After being away from home for a month, it was not good to be home for the Quad City Storm. The Storm began Friday’s game strong, but their lead quickly evaporated under an onslaught of shots from the Fayetteville Marksmen. The visiting Marksmen took the first of three games at Vibrant Arena at The MARK 6-3 on Friday after out-scoring the Storm 5-1 in the last two periods. 

The Storm struck early in the game thanks to Shane Bennett, who has become the Storm’s weekend warrior when needed. On the first shot on goal of the night, Bennett lit the lamp behind Jason Pawloski with help from Carter Shinkaruk just 39 seconds into the game. A few minutes later, Storm captain Taylor Pryce fought Troy Murray at center ice, being taken down hard and not returning to the ice for the rest of the game. The fight came after Pryce delivered a big hit on Austin Alger along the boards. Just under midway through the first period, Aaron Ryback scored off a rebound shot, giving the Storm a two-goal lead. The Marksmen began their blitz, eventually doubling the score by the night’s end.

Drake Glover scored the first goal for the Marksmen with roughly two and a half minutes remaining in the opening frame. The goal came from the right side of Kevin Resop along the goal line, the puck appearing to ricochet off Resop’s glove and into the net as Glover was just a step ahead of the goal line. Just over five minutes into the second period, the Storm and Marksmen each took a penalty, Dominick Sacco taking a seat for a spearing double minor and Trevor Momot sitting for a two-minute roughing penalty. During the last two minutes of Sacco’s penalty, Taylor McCloy tied the game at two apiece without assistance. Just as the spearing penalty expired, Brian Bowen scored another unassisted goal. He then went on a breakaway just under three minutes later as the Marksmen had the extra attacker due to a delayed penalty. His shot on the breakaway was turned away by Resop before Bowen picked a pocket and scored again to give the Marksmen their first multi-goal lead of the night. Storm Head Coach Dave Pszenyczny then used his timeout in an attempt to rally his team and set their game plan to rights following the Marksmen scoring three goals in roughly five minutes. 

The Storm scored once in the second period following a failed powerplay, thanks to Momot. The Marksmen considered it a controversial goal, saying the puck hadn’t crossed the line, but the officials and goal judge declared it a good goal. Just under two minutes later, the Storm began a four-minute penalty kill due to a high-sticking call against Nick Klishko, followed by a Shinkaruk hooking call with just 20 seconds remaining in the second period. 

The Storm then began the final frame with 1:40 of a 5-on-3 penalty kill and killed 1:39 of it before the Marksmen struck again. McCloy once again found the back of the net behind Resop. The Storm successfully killed the rest of Klishko’s penalty, though they could not score again to mount a comeback. Nick Mangone scored the night’s final goal as he was falling to the ice face-first just over 12 minutes into the final frame. 

 A few minutes after Mangone’s goal, tensions boiled over on the ice. Tucker Scantlebury delivered a hard hit to Momot behind Resop’s net, leaving the defenseman writhing on the ice in pain. Resop hooked Scantlebury as he skated past towards the direction of play, and no whistle came due to the hook or the injury behind the play. Only when Alexis Girard began to fight Scantlebury did a whistle come, and the Storm athletic trainer attended to Momot. Girard was handed an instigator minor and game misconduct for instigating so late in the game. However, Scantlebury was also given a kneeing major and game misconduct for that penalty. After leaving the ice for a moment, Momot attempted to return to the ice but left the bench before play resumed. With just under a minute remaining in the game, Michael Moran also dropped the gloves, taking on Murray. Due to so little time left in the game, Moran earned a game misconduct for instigating the fight. 

With the game misconduct penalties, it would not be surprising if both rosters are depleted slightly due to suspensions for the weekend.

“[Tonight’s performance was] just awful, I mean there’s no rating that,” said head coach Pszenyczny. “There’s definitely some personnel that needs to go, it’s only a matter of time. But unfortunately, right now nobody’s looking to move anything due to guys being called up. … We got complacent. … We had a game plan, and obviously it doesn’t work. Alright, I should say it’s not being executed.”

The Storm and Marksmen face off twice more this weekend, with Star Wars Night on Saturday and a Sunday matinee. Both games will be at the Vibrant Arena.

Be sure to follow @FPHStorm for the latest news and updates about the Storm.